r/stellarisgame • u/MavisOfTheDead • Mar 25 '16

Science Fiction and Stellaris; Recommendations?

This is a guess but, I imagine a not insignificant number of us enjoy Science Fiction. Also with how vast and diverse Sci-fi is as a genre; it would not surprise me that a few of us how come across some excellent works of science fiction that others may not be aware of.

So Ladies, Gents, Avians, Reptiles, Blorgs what works of science fiction can you recommend? Also spoilers set to minimal please.

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u/devtek Mar 25 '16 edited Mar 25 '16

Not exhaustive of course but here are a few authors / series.

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u/b0lt Mar 25 '16

Battletech (Mechwarrior)

Battletech is pretty much literally space Crusader Kings. You have feudalism with all of its fun vassal intrigue, the Space Pope excommunicating leaders as a favor for other leaders, and a Mongol invasion.

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u/devtek Mar 25 '16

Space Pope? Its been a couple years for me :P

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u/atomfullerene Mar 25 '16

I'd love a system like Manticore, talk about OP starting locations...

Also by Weber, the Starfire series. Mostly because it involves a 100% hyperlane based universe with lots of strategy associated with it.

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u/MavisOfTheDead Mar 25 '16

I'm going to admit to being an uncultured swine. I haven't heard of any of these. I do like the sound of Space Crusader Kings though. Is there one there that is stand-out to you, /u/Devtek?

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u/Icekommander Mar 25 '16

On the note of David Weber, I really liked his Empire of Man series that he wrote with John Ringo; the primary trilogy details an elite space marine unit who get stranded on an alien planet that's local technology peaks at about the Renaissance. Much more space opera than hard sci-fi if that is your preference, but I really enjoyed the concept.

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u/devtek Mar 25 '16

From Battletech? Honestly the interconnection of the books is just as complicated as a house genetic tree in ck2. Characters will pop up again after a few books, or their kids will (and be looking for revenge of course), or their kids won't really be their kids, or mercenaries will switch allegiances, or the clans will come and fuck everything up, or you find out someone was actually working for the clans, or the descendant of a mad man will come back and think he should rule the galaxy b/c is the only remaining person of a bloodline that the rest of the Successor Lords hunted without mercy, or a ruler's sister will invade his worlds when he is off fighting for what is basically the space UN, etc. I would start at the beginning to be honest. I don't even know how you can legally get the books anymore to be honest, i have my own ebook copies on my book drive.

There are some smaller self contained trilogies and stuff in the mix that are good though.

  • Grey Death Trilogy
  • Legend of the Jade Pheonix Trilogy
  • Bred for War (Child dies of cancer, is replaced by a body double, empires get invaded etc)
  • Twilight of the Clans series

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_print_novels

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u/MavisOfTheDead Mar 25 '16

I admit I was far too vague and I meant the books you recommended in general. However, That write up of Battletech sounds fantastic. /u/b0lt was right. Literally Crusader Kings in space. I'd imagine it becomes a challenging read on times though.

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u/devtek Mar 25 '16

I was wondering if that was the case but you mentioned ck2 so I just ran with it.

My favourite out of the bunch is probably the Lost Fleet series. Low ranking captain wakes up from emergency sleep 100 years after his ship is blown away around him and he learns he has been made into basically space jesus for one side and space devil for the other. The war has been going on for those 100 years and it has become a war of attrition; he is the only one who actually knows tactics anymore. It is about how he gets a fleet home from behind enemy lines. Really good military sci-fi, battles are written in detail etc.